Description

Fidel Castro's Secretary and Mistress Recounts the Final Days of
the Revolution in Cuba - a Personal, Revealing Album with Photo
Inscribed by the Dictator. An exceptionally historic document:
a photograph album titled "Academia De Ciencias De Cuba -
Fotografias," housing a typed manuscript with tipped-in
photographs, including an inscribed photograph of the dictator,
Fidel Castro. Written and assembled by Celia Sanchez Manduley,
"Secretaria En La Sierra De Fidel Castro Ruz," the album
includes a 60-page article / book treatment entitled Relatos
Sobre Los Ultimos Dias De Diciembre de 1958. (Versiones
Taquigraficase-Consejo De Estado.). The book was apparently to
be in novel form, but incorporating many actual events and
experiences. It was written as a proposal for a book by Castro's
mistress, purportedly by whom Fidel fathered a child. Known as the
"Sister of the Revolution" during the war, she lived in Manzanillo
and helped organize support for the army that was building in the
Sierra Maestra. After the Revolution, she was a top confidante of
Fidel and a leader in the Cuban women's movement. There is now a
monument dedicated to her in her hometown, overlooking the "city to
the sea." In 1990, Fidel personally dedicated a children's hospital
and center for social work in her honor. The final leaf of the
album includes a transmittal invoice from an exporter in Panama who
facilitated the document being forwarded to the William Morris
Agency in Beverly Hills. It was sent in 1985, just months before
Celia died. In addition to the manuscript, there are 44
photographs, including several from the Bay of Pigs invasion. The
frontis-portrait of a young Castro inscribed to his lover "Para
Siempre, Fidel" (Yours Always, Fidel) was received by Manduley
during the course of their romance. Other photographs include Fidel
consulting with his generals in the field,at press conferences, and
speaking before large crowds. There are also photographs of various
Cuban defense sites. Manduley's memoirs, written in Spanish, detail
the events occurring during Fidel's revolution. In addition to
describing actual occurrences, they provide insight into the
devotion felt by his followers. Early in the memoirs Manduley
writes: "I remember that all I was told was that Fidel did not
allow them to go up into the mountains because there were not
enough weapons for everyone, and he asked that only the armed ones
go up into the mountains; amongst them was a young woman from a
family that was settled there... That girl was 16 years old and
that day she went up into the mountains..." Further on she
writes: "The assassination of Amando Garcia was painful for the
revolutionaries, because he was practically dismembered and then
thrown in that little park... Exactly a month after Armando's death
we were able to avenge his death, in the manner that I will
relate... Two or three minions of the dictatorship were killed
there." Discordance with the United States is already evident
in Manduley's accounts as she describes Castro's use of the media
as a tool to influence the public: "...a television appearance
he was going to make in order to respond to the meddling of the
President who was at that moment President of the United States,
General Eisenhower, and he hurried to give an immediate response
that was well deserved, to put him on alert that he was not
disposed to accept any meddling in Cuba's affairs. This is when the
confrontation with Cuban politics, a confrontation with the
colonialist politics of the government that presides over that
powerful nation of North America..." Other passages of note
include descriptions of fighting side by side with Carmen Castro in
a battle to free captured comrades, and the campaign for literacy
mounted aspart of the revolution. One particularly gripping passage
details a small victory to save sparse military equipment during a
battle against the forces financed by BANFAIC: "And then we
covered the tank with banana plant leaves, many leaves, you
couldn't see it at all. It looked like a giant mound of leaves, and
this is how we were able to save the tank, the tank was saved."
Given Celia's untimely death, the project this album proposed never
evolved. This is certainly the only record of her reminiscences
extant in this country. Ironically, a major motion picture is now
being planned to document her life and struggle for the people of
Cuba. Clearly a unique, one-of-a-kind record that offers tremendous
insight by both a participant and witness to history.

Learn about consigning with us

The department director has the heart of a true and highly knowledgeable collector with the business acumen of someone who has been not only successful but has decades of an impeccable track record
David Greenburg,Chicago, IL